IATF agrees to ease COVID-19 protocols

MANILA: Despite warnings from health experts, the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has agreed to ease quarantine restrictions nationwide to reopen more businesses to perk up an economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a top Malacanang Palace official.

Harry Roque, the presidential spokesman, pointed out the agreement arose from the urgent need to place the entire nation under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) or lockdown mainly to enable the increasing number of 1.6 million jobless Filipinos to return to their work.

But Roque stressed the IATF agreement was only recommendatory and that it was up to President Rodrigo Duterte to whether approve it or not, which could come either on Monday or on Feb. 28 when the imposition of the stricter general community quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila and other areas is to end.

Earlier, nine of the 17 Metro Manila mayors voted in favor of placing the area known officially as the National Capital Region with eight against under MGCQ which would reopen more businesses like cinemas, tourist spots such as theme parks as well as more public utility vehicles like commuter buses and jeepneys so millions of laid off workers could return to their jobs.

But Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the World Health Organization ( WHO) representative to the Philippines, and other health experts warned the government against imposing “large-scale” easing of restrictions mainly because the country has yet to start its nationwide inoculation programme with the delayed arrival of the vaccines to contain the virus.

The experts also agreed with the Department of Health announcement of a “plateauing” of the COVID cases but warned there was no certainty of an upsurge of cases with the relaxation of the COVID restrictions.

However, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez cited the urgent need for lesser restrictions, noting that 1.6 million Filipinos have yet to return to their jobs from which they were laid off before the pandemic struck.

Lopez admited the delay in the arrival of vaccines for which which Duterte had expressed “impatience, has adversely affected the rollout but emphasized: “So, our worry is that with each passing day, our countrymen go without food. That is a problem for us.”

The issue now, he said, is no longer about choosing between health and the economy but about “other health issues that can emerge because hunger, because of malnutrition, stunted growth and the mental health of the youth.”